Where to put your espresso machine in a new coffee shop
When we started laying out our bar, we had the perfect spot picked for the espresso machine. It sat right in the middle of the counter, on a block of red quarry tile. Then we measured it, and it was 18 feet from the nearest floor sink.
That one measurement changed our layout. If you're opening a coffee shop, here's what I learned about placing the espresso machine, plus a few other build-out lessons I'd do differently next time.
The health department gates everything
Before we talk about layout, you need to know who has the final say. If you're opening a coffee shop, your first big hurdle is probably the health department, and in Ventura County that was especially true for us. The health department decides whether you get your permit to construct.
Once you submit your plans, it's a waiting game. In Ventura County, our plan review took about 20 business days, and from what I've seen, a lot of people don't get their permit to construct on the first pass. Every county runs its own process, so check the current timeline with your county's environmental health department and plan for it.
The health department doesn't care what color your walls are or how you demo the space. It cares a lot about how you build the counters, how you install your equipment and where your sinks go. That's why the espresso machine is a health department question as much as a design question.
The floor sink rule that moved our espresso machine
Equipment that drains water needs a place to drain it. In a café that's usually a floor sink. In Ventura County, we were told the fixtures that need drainage had to be within 15 feet of a floor sink. Your county may use a different distance, so confirm it with your environmental health department before you lock in a layout.
When we measured our planned spot, the espresso machine would have been 18 feet away. And the drain line wouldn't have run in a straight line. It would have had to go down into what was going to be a wall, take a right, then take another right into the floor sink.
So we moved the machine.
For us, it wasn't just the espresso machine. The same rule covered:
Espresso machines
Ice machines
Reverse osmosis (RO) and other water treatment systems
When you design your space, find out the distance your health department allows, then either put your floor sinks within that distance of everything that needs to drain, or put your equipment within that distance of the floor sinks you already have. In a second-generation space, moving a floor sink usually means cutting concrete, so it's often easier to work with the drains you've got.
Tape it out before you build anything
You'll see blue tape all over the floor in our build-out video. That's common for coffee shop operators and builders. It's how you stage where the equipment is going to go before anything is permanent.
Taping it out does a few things:
It shows you the real distances to floor sinks, outlets and water lines
It shows you how much room the barista actually has to move
It shows you what the guest sees from the line
Our bar design needed an extra 18 inches of floor space toward the back window and another 18 inches out into the guest area. We only found that out because we taped it.
Before you build the bar, answer these questions:
Where will the plumbing be roughed in?
Where will the electrical be roughed in?
Where's the floor sink relative to the espresso machine, ice machine and water filtration?
Where will the point-of-sale system sit, and how will you run Cat6 cable to it?
Where will the security cameras go?
Once we had the bar design specced out and knew where the utilities were going, I could safely start building the foundation of the bar.
What you can do while you wait for the permit
While you're waiting on the health department, the only things you can really do are demolition and painting. So do those. Find something productive to do with that time.
What I'd change: I refinished our floors first because I was impatient and wanted to feel like we were making progress. Then I had to cover the whole floor with Ram Board while we did construction with wood, tile and saws on top of it. That cost another few hundred dollars, and we still had scrapes and scratches I had to go back and repair before we could open.
So don't be like me. Do your floors last.
Your build-out budget is your payback clock
We opened this coffee shop on a shoestring budget. Bootstrapped, whatever the term is. Our total all-in investment was about $50,000. That meant there was no money for a new floor.
Instead of replacing it, I spent a few days during the permit wait sanding, scrubbing it down with steel wool and scouring pads, staining it and rolling on oil-based polyurethane with a short-nap roller. I spent about $250 on it.
Here's the bigger point. The more you spend opening your coffee shop, the longer it takes you to actually earn money. Having really nice floors and having cash flow in your first six months are two completely different animals. When you're picking furnishings and finishes and all the expensive extras that go into a lot of coffee shops, ask how long it'll take to earn that money back.
The equipment that makes your drinks and moves your line is a different conversation from the finishes. That's where your money works for you every day you're open.
Doing it yourself vs. hiring it out
There are two ways to build out a coffee shop. You can do it yourself, or you can have somebody do it for you. Both have pros and cons.
We did everything ourselves except the countertops. It took us longer to open, but it saved a ton of money. Next time I'd probably do a hybrid. Some jobs, like staining a floor, are simple, and it would've taken me longer to find someone to do it than to do it myself.
Demo was the hardest part. I thought a sledgehammer would do it. I ended up buying specialized chisels to pull up tile. The full floor demo took about a week, and I went to sleep with ice packs on my forearms.
The carpentry was easier than I expected. Our most specialized tools were a cut-off saw and a hammer drill for the concrete anchors. Beyond that it was a carpenter's square, a screw gun, a hammer and nails.
And the small projects sneak up on you: building the counter, installing countertops, tile, running Cat6 for the POS, installing security cameras. Whatever timeline you think you'll need, I'd double it.
Talk to us before the bar gets built
The best time to choose your espresso machine is before you build the counter it sits on. If you're planning a café anywhere in Los Angeles, Ventura or Santa Barbara County, bring us your layout. We'll walk through the machine you're considering, what it needs, and how it fits your space.
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